AUSTRALIAN CREDIT

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 17, 15 October 1926, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN CREDIT

MR. BRUCE REPLIES TO CRITICISM PAMPHLET DECLARED INACCURATE MASS OF BIASED CONCLUSIONS Tho Prime Minister of Aus> tralia declares that the recent pamphlet attacking Australian credit bristles with inaccuracies and omissions, but is presented in a form calculated to deceive the casual reader. Bl' TELEGBAPH.—PBESS ASSOCIATION. COPYRIGHT. London, October 13. Mr. Bruce, who intends later to make a. complete and considered reply to the recent pamphlet attacking Australian credit, has issued the following interim statement: “The pamphlet in <;uestion bristles with inaccuracies and omissions, but is presented in a form calculated to deceive the casual reader. This is apparently its purpose. On close analysis it will be found that the writers are more interested in the politics of the various Australian Governments than in the actual question of finance. The result is a mass of biased conclusions, based on neither the science of statistics nor a logical reasoning. “One point only need be mentioned to indicate that the object of the publication was hardly what it purported to be, namely, a warning to the British investor. The pamphlet is solemnly dedicated to the Imperial Conference, 1926, and apparently was issued to synchronise with my arrival. I do not hesitate to say it cannot be regarded as an impartial review of Australian finance or Australia’s potentialities. The authors, who profess concern not only' about the British investor, but about the Empire generally, apparently forgot to mention that we have a rapidly-expanding population, 98 per cent. British; that we have never defaulted nor ever looked like diong so.

“It is more than regrettable that at a time when I, as representative of Australia,-am in the van leading a fight for Empire unity, there should be forces working which, whatever their avowed intention, are doing a great deal for disruption. When I left Australia there were several representatives of great American financial corporations who were both willing and anxious to lend money to Australia. They had personally investigated the conditions, and apparently found them satisfactory. In these circumstances I feel convinced that the sound conservative policy of the British investor will not be deflected by’ a pamphlet which is so obviously incomplete and inaccurate.”